Condensing spent steam



L. HELLER CONDENSING SPENT STEAM Aug. 22, 1944.

Filed Jam. 29, 1942 w u mL. 2 DZ m hm m Patented Aug. 22,*1944 I?- CONDENSING SPENT STEAM Laszlo Heller, Budapest, Hungary; vested in the Alien Property Custodian Application January 29, 1942, Serial No. 428,655 In Hungary November 20, 1940 1 Claim.

This invention relates to the condensation of spent steam, and its purpose is to provide a condensing method which comprises the employment of cooling by air, possesses a high degree of safety of operation, and is economical, and also to provide the apparatus by means of which the new method can be successfully carried out in practice.

In a preferred way of carrying out the method according to the invention, the water pump supplying the water to be injected is adjusted so as to ensure that the pressure of the water circulating in the air-cooled water coolers should, even at the point of lowest pressure, exceed atmospheric pressure, e. g. by about 0.05 atmosphere or more. In this case the place of any defect developing on the air-cooled water coolers necessarily possessing a large cooling surface will immediately be indicated by the water escaping at that point, and, moreover, such defects cannot result in any air getting into the condenser and, accordingly, cannot cause any deterioration of the vacuum, but will only cause a certain amount of boiler feed Water being lost. This loss, however, can, in view of the fact that it is very easy to ascertain the place at which the defect has occurred, be stopped very quickly, even without having to stop the operation of the plant for this purpose.

The apparatus according to the invention consists substantially of a mixing condenser connected to a condensing steam engine, and of an air-cooler connected into the injection water circulation of the said condenser, whilst at the same time a hydraulic turbine is preferably inserted into the water main through which the water leaves the coolers, and the air-cooled water cooler is preferably composed of a plurality of units connected in parallel. Substantial advantages of an apparatus of this type are that it requires little engine-room space, that its exhaust steam piping is inexpensive and that its condenser is relatively small-sized, added to which there are obtained, moreover, all the working advantages disclosed above.

The invention will be described further in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which, by way of example, a certain form of apparatus according to the invention is illustrated diagrammatically.

It appears from this drawing, that the exhaust steam passes from the steam turbine I through the duct 2, of small length and large cross-section, into the mixing condenser 3, into which th cold water for condensing the said steam is introduced through the main 4. The liquid mixture composed of the injected water and of the water of condensation leaves the condenser through the outlet 5, and a part of this water of boiler feed quality is conveyed by the main 6 into the.

boiler feed pump I, whilst the remainder streams through the main 8 to the circulating pump 9, arranged preferably in the immediate vicinity of the condenser. This pump feeds the water, increasing also its pressure above the atmospheric, into the cooling Water main I0. From this main the water, after passing through the parallel-connected air-cooled coolers II, I2 and I3, possessing each a cooling surface of substantial magnitude, and being cooled-down in them, passes into the collecting main I4, from which latter it returns again, through the hydraulic turbine I5, into the condenser 3, from which the air is removed by the air pump I6 connected to it by means of pipe ll. The water fed into the boiler I8 is being converted into steam, and this steam feeds the turbine I through the main I9. The coolers I I, I2, and I3 are provided with valves or cocks III), III, I20, I2I and I30, I3I, and are surrounded by the casing 20, through which the cooling air is driven by the fan 2|. In actual practice it is, of course, preferable to employ, instead of the three cooling units shown on the drawing, a greater number of cooling units, of any suitable construction, which likewise are connected in parallel with each other between the mains I0 and I4, and each of which is also provided with a cock or a valve at each end, for disconnecting it at will from the cooling circuit. Such cooling units also may possibly possess mutually different cooling capacities.

In the example shown on the drawing, the pumps I, 9 and I6 and the fan 2| are shown as being driven by electric motors I0, 90, I and 2|II, connected to the mains 22 and 23 to which part of the electrical power is supplied by the generator I50 driven by the water turbine I5. The power obtained from this turbine, however, may be used to any suitable other purpose, and the drives of the pumps, fan and eventual other accessories also may be of any other suitable kind, and disposition.

Also, various other changes may be made in the details disclosed in the foregong specification without departing from the invention or sacrificing the inherent advantages thereof. For example, the cooling device may comprise seriesconnected cooling units provided with by-pass mains and valves for enabling repairs during operation, such series-connected units constituting the cooling device by themselves or being interconnected in parallel with other cooling units.

I claim:

In an apparatus for condensing spent steam, the combination of a casing into which the steam is introduced, provided with a water outlet; a manifold connected with said outlet; a plurality of coils connected with said manifold; a header with which said coils are connected; acooler through which said coils pass; an injector connected with said header, and having its discharge outlet disposed in said casing, conduits connecting the foregoing elements forming a closed and sealed water circuit from and to said casing; a high pressure pump in said circuit between the casing and the manifold adapted to force the water under high pressure through the manifold, coils and header; and means in said circuit between the header and the injector to reduce the 10 water pressure. 

